


Everyone needs a little saving

by l_ss



Category: Station 19 (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:00:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28674864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/l_ss/pseuds/l_ss
Summary: Carina DeLuca has always been a strong support system for everyone, but even she needs a little saving.
Relationships: Andrew Deluca & Carina Deluca, Maya Bishop & Carina DeLuca, Maya Bishop/Carina DeLuca
Comments: 8
Kudos: 142





	Everyone needs a little saving

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a little while back and I completely forgot about it until I was going through my computer today and found it. Anyways, hope you like it.

“Carina, babe, are you home yet?”, Maya called as she opened the door to their apartment; the Italian had gone back to her home country in order to be with her father for a while and was supposed to have arrived in the afternoon. When Maya got no response nor saw anyone, she decided to check the bedroom, where she found a sleeping Carina. The firefighter chose not to wake her up, silently closing the door as she left. Since it was already around 9 p.m, Maya decided to fix dinner for two, just in case Carina woke up hungry. She prepared one of the doctor’s favorite meals as a welcome back home gift; Maya missed her girlfriend like crazy. 

“Hey, you”, Carina said as she walked in the kitchen 20 minutes later to find Maya entirely dedicated to the pans on the stove

“Hello, stranger”, Maya joked before turning around to give her girlfriend a quick peck on the lips, “I missed you”

“I missed you, too”, Carina shared truthfully as she sat on the kitchen stool

“How are things in Italy?”, Maya questioned trying to get at least a small piece of information from her girlfriend. Carina never actually told Maya how her father was. While the doctor was gone, they would talk everyday; however, every single time Maya asked about father DeLuca, Carina’s answer was the same:  _ he is alright _ . Having been together for eight months now, Maya could tell from the tone of her girlfriend’s voice that she was lying, but she didn’t want to pressure Carina, especially over the phone. 

“Fine”, Carina replied almost coldly

“Okay”, Maya opted not to ask anything else, “the food is almost done, wanna grab yourself a plate?”

“I’m not really hungry”, Carina said in a low tone

“Oh, did you eat in the plane?”, Maya asked curiously as to why the doctor was taking a pass on one of her favorite dishes

“Not really”, Carina shared, “but do you mind if I go back to the room? I’m just really tired”

Maya didn’t mind the situation, she knew a flight from Italy to Seattle was quite long and tiresome. However, she knew Carina better than anyone and, as much as she wanted to convince herself that the Italian was just tired, deep down she knew there was more than she was letting out. Since she had made enough food for the two of them, she left Carina’s plate in the oven before eating and cleaning everything up to go to the bedroom to join the other woman. Taking a quick shower first, Maya got under the covers and wrapped her arms around Carina’s body, gently stroking her arm.

“I left your plate in the oven in case you get hungry later”, Maya said, giving Carina a sweet kiss on the cheek, “are you sure you are just tired?”

“Yeah, it was a long flight”, Carina confirmed, but the blonde tried to push it a little

“You know you can tell me everything, right?”, Maya's tone was reassuring

“I know”, Carina replied in an emotionless tone

“Did you know also that I missed sleeping tangled up to you?”, Maya asked, successfully lighting up the environment a little 

“Well, that’s easy to solve”, Carina stated as she pulled Maya closer, arranging their bodies together. Embraced in Carina’s warmth after so long and tired from the crazy day she had had at the Station, it didn’t take long for Maya to fall deeply asleep. By her side, Carina couldn’t rest even if her life depended on it. 

When she got on a plane to Italy, she couldn’t imagine how worse her father had actually gotten; how bad and frequent his mood swings were. Dealing with Vicenzo DeLuca took a lot of energy she didn’t have anymore. And, on top of that, it was impossible to take care of someone who didn’t want to be taken care of.  She thought about spending more time in the European country in order to see if she could change things around, but the scenario in Seattle also required her. The woman she loved had just recently completely accepted that her father was abusive and started going to therapy; her little brother finally started to treat his own mental illness inherited from their father. These were critical and difficult times when they were not meant to be left alone. Carina played all the scenarios in her head, from the best to the worst, all the possible outcomes. She could not be in two places at the same time - hell, she didn’t even know she could be in one.

The doctor didn’t mind waiting for the alarm clock to go off once she hadn’t slept anyways, so she just kissed Maya’s head, unwrapped herself and started her day.  When Maya woke up at 5:30a.m, Carina was nowhere to be seen but Maya didn't think much of it. Maybe the doctor had a very early shift that day, so the firefighter just followed her morning routine and went to work, texting Carina on the way.

-

"Ciao, you’re back! How is papà?", Andrew questioned as he saw Carina in the hallway

"He is...papà", Carina said in hopes her brother would understand

"That bad, huh?", Andrew stated more to himself than to Carina. Even since he started treating his own mental illness, Andrew started to understand more and more how bad his father was, how mentally abusive he had been; that was also the time that his admiration for his sister grew. She had put herself through the trouble of being there for both himself and their father when she could have very well moved on with her own life; she was there for him when he was suffering in Meredith's couch because of the girl he thought to love; she was there for him when he almost froze to death in a blizzard; when he totally lost it in front of the entire hospital. She was there for him even when he was rude to her, "and you? How are you?"

"I...", Carina started but wasn't able to finish once her pager went off, "I have to go"

The more Andrew saw Carina around the hospital, the more he worried about her. It was normal for her to be a little beaten down when things involved their father; however, she seemed a thousand times worse. The smile on her face was almost gone, her energy seemed drained; everytime Andrew as much as mentioned their father, Carina would change the subject or say nothing. At lunch time, she denied her brother’s invitation claiming she was too busy and would go later, when in reality she just grabbed a cup of coffee and went into her own office in order to be alone. 

The entire day went by like this: a lifeless Carina wondering the halls of Grey Sloan.

"What is up with your sister?", Dr. Shepard asked Andrew as the two of them had just finished a consult

"Why?", he was curious although he probably knew what the neurosurgeon meant

"Well, to put it nicely, she looks like the walking dead", Amelia shared, "Is everything okay in Italy?”

"Yes", Andrew confirmed, but soon took it back, "I mean, I don't know. She won't say it.”

"Think maybe she told Maya something?", Amelia gave him an alternative, "you can try giving her a call”

“She hasn’t”, Andrew confirmed, “I have already called her. And I have already called papá, but he said she seemed fine when she left Italy”

“Well, then maybe it’s nothing major”, Amelia tried looking at the bright side, “maybe she’s just tired. I mean, travelling can be tiresome”

“Yeah”, Andrew was still unsure, “maybe it’s just that”

-

“I didn’t know we’d be having a family evening”, Carina said a little annoyed when she walked in the apartment to see Andrew and Maya talking on the couch. The two of them got along really well, which made Carina happy; however, she really wanted to be alone that evening, something she thought would be possible once Maya was supposed to still be at work.  But Maya and Andrew had been texting all day long. They were both worried about Carina and decided it would nice to keep her company.

“Well, you were gone for two weeks and we missed you”, Maya stated, waiting for her girlfriend to give her a kiss, what never happened as Carina just opted to stand between the living room and the kitchen, “so I called Andrew and invited him over for dinner”

“I thought you were supposed to be at work?”, Carina questioned, sitting down on the stool

“Slow day”, Maya lied once the day was actually pretty busy but her girlfriend came first, “so I left Andy in charge to come home a little early”

“And I brought your favorite wine”, Andrew shared, pointing to a wine bottle near the fridge

“Alright”, Carina gave in, “let me just take a shower first”

They managed to have a pleasant evening although Maya and Andrew did most of the talking whereas Carina kept quiet and barely touched her food. Her behavior was very noticeable for the other two on the table, but they chose to say nothing directly.

“So, I called papà today”, Andrew shared, leaving out the reason behind it, “he said he was very happy to see you and that he would love for me to go visit him as well, so I’m thinking about buying a ticket to Italy sometime soon”

“That’s awesome”, Maya encouraged the doctor, coming up with an even bigger idea, “babe, maybe we can all go together? I get to know your father and we make a trip out of it. I can for sure get some days off”

“If you excuse me, I am done so I’ll just go to bed now”, Carina got up from her chair, “thanks for the dinner”

That left Maya and Andrew speechless. Neither one of them had ever seen Carina like that, it was as if something inside her was broken. As soon as they both finished their dinners, Andrew’s offer to help clean up was well accepted by his sister-in-law. When he was about to leave, he asked Maya if maybe he could go into their bedroom and talk to Carina a little; of course, the firefighter couldn’t say no.

“Hey, mind if I sit there with you?”, Andrew asked as he walked into the room to find his sister below the sheets staring blankly at the ceiling. When he got no responde, he sat by her side anyway,  “Papà is worse, isn’t he?”, Andrew knew she wouldn’t answer but he asked anyway, “Carina, please, talk to me, I know it’s about him and I hate seeing you like this. Let me help you out. Or, if not me, let Maya help you out...just, please”

“I don’t want to involve you in this situation”, Carina stated simply, turning to her side, facing away from her brother

“I’m not sure you’re aware but I’m his son too, I’m already involved in this situation as it is”, Andrew half-joked, “besides, Maya is worried about you as much as I am, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind being involved in this if it meant not seeing you like this"

“Andrea, per favore, you guys have too much going on in your lives, you don’t need one more burden”, Carina’s face was now covered by silent tears

“You seem to forget you are a pretty big part of our lives”, Andrew stated, “we can help you if you let us”

That made Carina lose it. It was the argument she used with her father during all her trip. “ _ please, I can help you if you let me” _ . She could hear those words echoing in her head, the scene of her father having yet another one of his episodes in front of her, the words he would throw at her out of anger. He was her dad, she should be able to help him, she should be strong enough to be there for him, she...her tears were not silent anymore and Andrew just laid on the bed to hold his sister, who immediately turned to him and buried her face in his chest.

Maya gave the siblings all the minutes alone in the world, but when half an hour had passed by, she started getting worried so she decided to check on them. When she opened the door to her own room, Andrew was laying on her side of the bed with Carina’s head on his chest, the ob sound asleep while Andrew stroked her hair with his free hand. He would be there for his sister the same way she was always there for him, no matter how much she tried to push him away. Maya just gave him a silent nod and slept on the other room that night.

-

Carina woke up completely disoriented in the middle of the night. It was around 3:40 a.m when she opened her eyes to find her brother snoring by her side and Maya nowhere to be seen, so she silently got up and went to the other room to find her girlfriend sleeping only in her underwear, the blanket covering just half of her body. She smiled to herself because of how cute Maya looked. Carina couldn’t put into words how much she loved the sleeping woman and the knucklehead snoring in her bed. That was why she didn’t want to occupy their heads with her problems.

Carina knew how difficult this recovery time was being on both of them because, quite frankly, it was terrible on herself as well. She did her best to be the strongest she could in order to be there for them when they wanted to give up; or when they were hurting so bad they needed to rely on someone. Carina was there throughout everything, all the ups and downs, while still worrying about her father miles away from her. She was the one who always knew her father’s mental illness the best and she knew how bad it could get, she had even gotten used to it at some level, she just never imagined that it could be this bad. Ever since she arrived in Seattle to be with her brother, she had been constantly travelling to Italy to check on their father. If things were bad, she would break down in the plane not to worry anyone. However, this time it was too much, even for her.

Carina climbed in bed with the other woman, slowly going under the covers in a failed attempt to not wake her up.

“I’m up”, Maya blurted out, opening her eyes 

“Shhh, it’s me”, Carina eased her with a kiss on the head

“Hey, you”, Maya said still a little lost and asleep

Carina just snuggled up to her girlfriend, who fell back asleep just as fast as she woke up, the doctor letting herself snooze off as well in the comfort of Maya’s embrace.

-

“Can I just say…”, Andrew started as the three of them went out for breakfast in the morning, “I feel hurt that you switched me for Maya in the middle of the night”

“What can I say? She’s got a nicer body”, Carina joked. Although she still felt bad, she tried to put on a façade not to ruin everyone's morning

“Does she?”, Andrew challenged, “I’ll have you know no woman has ever complained”

“I can literally say the same”, Maya joined in the siblings’ banter

“It’s because there’s nothing to complain about”, Carina shared flirtatiously, “and trust me, I have seen every inch of it”

“Nope, too early for this”, Andrew said as he got up from his chair, “besides, I’m already late as it is”

“Okay, just leave money for the bill”, Carina said as her brother walked away pretending not to listen, “stronzo”

“Don’t worry, I’ll cover for him”, Maya offered making Carina roll her eyes, “aren't you going to finish that?”

“No, I’m full already”, Carina answered

“Babe, you have barely eaten three bites of your food”, Maya noticed, “and you haven’t really eaten since you came back. I’m worried”

“Well, don’t be”, Carina played it cool, “I’m alright”

“Are you really, Carina?”, Maya was more firm now, “I didn’t meet you yesterday, we have been together for eight months now, I know you’re not well and it can only be related to your father. I...I heard you crying last night, but Andrew said you didn't tell him anything so please, just talk to me. Or to him. Just talk to anyone”

“You should go or else you’ll be late for you therapy session”, Carina cut the topic short, making Maya sigh loudly

“Fine”, the captain gave in once she knew it was something she couldn’t miss, not only for herself but for both of them, “here, take my credit card, we’ll talk at home later today”

-

Carina was thankful when she opened the door and Maya wasn’t in the house. She went straight to the bathroom in order to take a hot shower and relax her body from all the baby deliveries of the day. She thought if she were quick, she could go to bed before Maya returned and avoid having whatever conversation it was the firefighter had in mind; breaking down in front of her brother was already enough. However, when she opened the bathroom door in just her towel, Maya was sitting on the bed.

“I brought you food”, Maya said looking up at Carina, “and you’re gonna eat it”

“Bossy”, Carina tried to mask her annoyed tone with a joke, taking off her towel and changing into some loose clothes

“Worried”, Maya corrected her girlfriend, “Carina, I don’t care if you end up hating me, I am going to take care of you, whether you like it or not”

“In my defense, I’m not asking you to do any of this”, the doctor said as she put a t-shirt over her head

“You’re hurting. You cried your eyes out on your brother’s chest yesterday because you’re hurting, Carina”, Maya commented in a firm but sweet tone, “and if you’re hurting, I’m hurting too. I just need to know why, so I can help you, so I can be there for you the way you’ve always been there for me. Do you remember what you said to me when we first started going out? You told me you were not in the habit of fixing broken people. Yet, you stood by me through everything. Just let me do the same for you. What is wrong?

“Nothing is wrong”, Carina tried to dismiss her girlfriend’s worry

“Something is wrong”, Maya was not having any of it anymore, “and I will bother you until you tell me what it is”

“Okay, if you want to know so bad, here it is”, Carina raised her voice, “what is wrong is that I have to be strong for everyone I love the most in this life: you, Andrea, papà. But I’m not a fucking superhero, Maya!  When I went to Italy now, papà was worse than I have ever seen him and I just don’t have the strength to be there for him anymore”, Carina’s tone slowly became sad as Maya just watched in silence “but I need to be, because I’m the only person he has. I can’t ask Andrea to do it when he is just now taking care of himself. I cannot throw this on you because you have your own father issues so just...let me be, okay? It feels like shit now but I’ll be fine in no time, that’s the way it has always been”

“Babe, it doesn’t have to be this way”, Maya approached Carina, “you don’t have to be a superhero. Me and Andrew, we love you, we are here for everything you need just like you were there for everything you needed. You have a place to fall when you need to”

“I can’t. Because you need me, and Andrew needs me, and I just, I can’t”, in that moment, Carina just couldn’t take it anymore and let herself break down one more time. She felt a tourbillon of emotions at the same time. Maya just hugged her girlfriend, silently, understanding. They stood there in the middle of the room while Carina let everything out.

-

“Okay, has Maya asked you to move in with us?”, Carina said to her brother as she walked in the kitchen to find him standing there with a bottle of beer in his hands. After balling her eyes out, Carina decided to take a nap in order to try and calm herself down a bit. Maya stood there with her, caressing her hair as she slowly drifted off.

“Hey, you’re up”, Andrew noticed, completely ignoring his sister’s comment, “how do you feel?”

“Like shit”, Carina was honest, “where is Maya?”

“She went to buy us some more beer”, Andrew explained, “she told me. About what you said to her, she told me, everything”

“Yeah, she shouldn’t have”, Carina stated; she didn’t want her brother to be a part of this

“Don’t hold it against her, she is just worried and so am I”, Andrew said, "I understand where you’re coming from. You’ve always been like this, you’ve always been protective, but I’m taking care of myself, and Maya is taking care of herself, all because of you. You’ve helped us so much already, just let us help you. I know my relationship with papà is messy and not quite easy, but I can go to Italy and be with him for a while”

“Andrea, no, he is not well, you don’t need to”, Carina tried to take this idea off her brother’s mind

“Of course I need to. He is my father too, you don’t have to carry this burden alone. And if it somehow becomes a trigger for me, I’ll stop and I’ll come back or I’ll call for help. Because that’s what we do, Carina, we help each other. We’re family. You, me, this crazy girlfriend of yours who goes out at 1 a.m only to buy beer, we’re family. We count on each other, we have each other’s back. You’re not alone.”

“Okay, they didn’t have Heineken so I got Budweiser”, Maya said as she entered the apartment, “hey, you’re up. Are you feeling better?”

“I’m..”, Carina turned to her girlfriend, thinking about what her brother had just said, “yeah”

“Okay, great, so now you’re gonna sit down, and I’m gonna heat up some food for you and you’re going to eat it”, Maya almost demanded, ”oh, they also had that chocolate you like so I grabbed you one”

“Guys, I don’t mean to spoil your fun but it’s very late already”, Carina said as she noticed the amount of beer her girlfriend had bought, “are you sure you’re gonna drink all of that? Don’t you have early shifts tomorrow?”

“Nah, we’re not working tomorrow. Neither one of us”, Maya revealed a decision she had previously made along with Andrew, “tomorrow is family day”

“Oh, just a heads up, I’m going to crash here so please, please, please, if you are going to have sex, just keep it quiet, will ya?”, Andrew pleaded

“Andrew, your sister literally studied female orgasms”, Maya joked, “do you really think there’s any chance to keep it quiet with her?”

Carina took a deep breath observing her girlfriend and her brother going back and forth with the banter, drinking beer. It was difficult for her to ask for other people’s help when she was so used to handling things on her own, but Maya and Andrew were not people, they were her family; her crazy and a little messed up family. She was not alone. They deserved some credit, and she was more than happy to learn how to rely on them for whatever she may need. Because, in the end, everyone needs a little saving.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Have a nice life :)


End file.
